October Whispers // There’s a First Time for Everything (INCLUDING ARCs!) + NaNoWriMo Nerves + Am I going on Hiatus?

October was the month of chocolate and pumpkins, drowning in leaves and generally just being a flailing Fangirl™

BASICALLY, I am a puddle of excitement on the floor and THIS MONTH WAS SO MUCH BETTER THAN LAST MONTH!!!

For the first time in forever I:

• Read a John Green Book. I’ve NEVER Read any of his books but I quite enjoyed Turtles All The Way Down
• WON TWO GIVEAWAYS (this has never happened to me before)
• Received an ARC and got accepted for 4 more!
• Traded tons of books (SO MUCH FUN for some reason?)
• Became an affiliate FOR SOMETHING SUPER BOOKISH
• Got an acception to receive a PageHabit book box (for November!)
• AGHHHH
• GOT ACCEPTED FOR RENEGADES.
• did Top Ten Tuesday
• Hit 400 followers on Twitter #winning

SO AS YOU CAN SEE SO MUCH AMAZING MIND BOGGLING THINGS HAVE BEEN HAPPENING TO ME AND ASDFGHJKL I AM SQUEAAALLINNGGG.

Ahem

Onto the recap

(oh and I know you are wondering about the hiatus but carry on reading okay)

*all links take you to the Goodreads page and maybe treasure.

I completed my Goodreads CHALLENGE. WHOOP. WHOOP! I am officially WINNING AT MY BOOK LIFE. I mean 100 books? DAMN, I AM IMPRESSED WITH MYSELF.

I read 8 books this month which is actually really great by my standards! I did have a holiday last week and I could have got a lot of reading done but, haha, too much procrastinating and homeworks

I DIDN’T EVEN GO TO THE LIBRARY ONCE HAHA R.I.P ME.

Undercover Princess by Connie Glynn ★☆☆☆☆ // I’m back to trashy books and 1-star reviews. This was too happy and underdeveloped. #sorrynotsorry

Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi ★★★☆☆ // Had a bucket load of problems BUT WARNER WARNER WARNER WARNER. Also this buddy read failed.

As You Wish by Chelsea Sedoti  ★☆☆☆☆ // Jerkish and sexist main character who actually annoyed the hell out of me plus dry writing. A big FAT NO from me.

The Truth and Lies of Ella Black by Emily Barr ★★☆☆☆ // Worst case of Intsa Love in all the universes and galaxies plus so far-fetched!

Warcross by Marie Lu  ★★★★★ // Not her best work BUT OMG THAT ENDING MY MIND IS COMBUSTING AND EXPLODING

Our Dark Duet by V.E Schwab ★★★★★ // Buddy read with the lamb AND OMG MY FREAKING HEART.

BORROWED FROM FRIEND AND SCHOOL

Blood Brothers by Willy Rusell ★★★★☆ // This was a play i read for school and I actually really liked it?!

Turtles All The Way Down by John Green ★★★★☆ // My first Green novel and I loved how the OCD was tackled!

Most of these were from #booksfortrade!

REVIEW COPIES

IT’S BEAUTIFUL. I LOVE IT. Thank you HOT KEY BOOKS for sending me THIS PRECIOUS PRROF Love, Hate and other Filters. IT HAS MUSLIM REP!!! WHICH I AM LIKE DYING TO READ ABOUT plus its OWN VOICES!! ouadgjdhisuj FOR MY FIRST EVER ARC!!! *screams* And look, THEY SENT ME A POSTCARD PLUS BADGE AND OTHER STUFF WITH IT AND IT WAS PACKAGED BEAUTIFULLY. I’m not crying obviously.

MY BLOG SCHEDULE FLEW OFF TO GERMANY.Aka I missed my posting days. Wyyy? WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME? I missed like a week of posting and then went back and posted whenever I could. I REALLY DON’T LIKE IT WHEN THIS HAPPENS?!

I also participated in my first ever blogging meme, Top Ten Tuesday. Which was really fun but I feel like the quality of the post wasn’t too good. But aesthetics for the win

I got accepted for ARCs!I’ve already received Love, Hate and Other Filters but I will also be getting To Kill a Kingdom AGHAHAHA. And i got accepted for an ARC of Like Love and it LOOKS SO COOL and I might be receiving Batman by Marie Lu and OKAY I AM SO CALM. OH, AND I WILL BE RECEIVING KIDS LIKE US IN THE MAIL SOON. I feel great.

I am now an affiliate for The Willoughby Book Club! It’s THIS AMAZING business where they HAND PICK the books that arrive in your subscription box based on your Goodreads, favourite authors and favourite books. SO YOU WON’T EVEN HAVE TO CHOOSE. Ahaha, SO GOOD and I receive a small little amount of money if you make a purchase through there. SO IF YOU WANT A COOL BIRTHDAY BOOK PRESENT FOR YOUR FRIENDS AND DON’T KNOW WHAT TO BUY, just get this okay. And use the link above and get 10% off.

I’m going to be a rep for something bookish! OKAY CALM DOWN It’s not Fairyloot or Owlcrate but IT IS PAGE HABIT. yeah okay, FINE none of you have probably heard of it before but I’m going to be receiving one of their lovely November boxes to review and aghhhh EXCITED!!

I WON 2 GIVEAWAYS. Wooow, like I knew I was obsessed with retweeting them BUT LIKE HOW DID I WIN?! I got Warcross by Marie Lu from the fabulous Ju and a pre-order of MY MOST ANTICIPATED RELEASE OF EVER, Ace of Shades by Amanda Foody from Emily Mead!

V.E SCHWAB RETWEETED MY TWEET. Okay, so replies and likes from authors ARE LIKE COOL, but like, RETWEETS?! THIS TOPS THEM ALL LITTLE ONIONS. And it was about Our Dark Duet making me cry because that is what happens to me okay. 😀

OH HEY GOODREADS I KNOW WHAT I CAN DO NEXT. YOU DON'T NEED TO TELL ME
-cry
-cry
-cry
-FREAKING CRY pic.twitter.com/nmFKF8I0SD

— llsa (@WhisperOfInk) October 19, 2017

ME GOING SUBTLY VIRAL ON TWITTER IS THE USUAL NOW, apparently?! This tweet got more likes than that ‘Steps on becoming a writer’ tweet so like,,#winning. I LOVE MYSELF.

bookworm culture is not knowing what to read whilst owning 67 unread books

— llsa (@WhisperOfInk) October 28, 2017

I won my GOODREADS CHALLENGE?! All the winning this month! And really, winning this? IT’s taken off a LOT of stress of! Now I don’t feel like I have to keep on schedule and read as much.

I broke my Netgalley ban and UM GOT ACCEPTED FOR RENEGADES.Which is like only one of my anticipated releases of ever. I could have got a physical proof, but they ran out NOT TOO SALTY BECAUSE EBOOKS ARE GREAT FUN. And I have started it and it IS a little slow but omg I’m not even past the 10% mark so I shall stop nitpicking.

Also THANK YOU:

EXCITING NEWS

• WELL CAIT ANNOUNCED HER DEBUT NOVEL!? And i am freaking the heck out and possibly crying. SHE IS THE BEST OKAY. And this novel coming out in June 2018? HOLY HECK, I cannot wait.
• Restore Me, the new Shatter Me Novel, is introduced!From Twinkle, With Love is announced!
• Simon Vs. Movie ANNOUNCED!!
• Zoe @ No Safer Place launches HER OWN YA BOOK BOX!! 

BLOGGING

• Joce @ Write Through The Night summarises her summer hiatus! (MISSED YOU ❤ )
• Esther@ Queen of Fantasy lists all the writerly grumbles
• Maybelline @ My 1st Chapter GIVES US TEA AND TALKS. (she’s awesome btw)
• The Starlit Reader warns about things we should NEVER say to a bookworm (I laughed so many times!)
• Marie @ Drizzle and Hurricane talks about how reviews are unpopular (Wow I have such a similar post BUT I SWEAR I DIDN’T COPY)
• Cait @ PaperFury talks about what it is like being an autistic blogger and writer (honestly thank you for this!)
• Jackie @ Too Much of A Book Nerd COMES BACK FROM THE DEAD. 
• May @Forever and Everly discusses things we should be proud of (I think this is my favourite post from you ever(ly))
• Mikaela @ The Well Thumbed Reader asks us about whether we have the right to judge people for what they read
• Anna @ Book Snacks writes about the dilemmas of book recommendations 
• Ju @ Blots of Ink and Words tells us why we should appreciate authors 

TWITTER

• READ THE REPLIES TO THIS PLEASE.
• erm
• If you want to receive ARCs and are an underrepresented teen fill out this form!
• And if you have Diverse ARCs you want to donate fill out this form!
• Basically, the above two is this organisation that aspires to get ARCs in the hands of diverse and marginalized teens! I love the idea. Their website is coming in November.

• LIFE?? WHAT IS THIS THING. I don’t even know anymore. Someone do inform me, I seem to be quite of the loop.
• I had a week off school! AND DID…nothing. WHY AM I LIKE THIS?!
• My bullet journal arrived. AND IT IS PRETTY ❤ I CANNOT WAIT TO USE. Hahaha, hopefully, I DO use it. Maybe. Here are some pictures of the beauty!
• 

  
• I buddy read with the amazing Lu for ODD! We were supposed to work on our joint review but I am horrible and I forgot. ALSO, SHE HAD A BIRTHDAY AND THERE Were CAKE AND LUUUU.
• Oh yes, The Apprentice! AGHH ITS GOOD. Jeff and his breakdancing? I AM SO HERE FOR IT. And then he went and got fired. I LOVE MIKAELA I WANT HER TO WIN. WHO ELSE?
• NaNoWriMo is tomorrow. SEND HELP. Or you know, look at my word count goals.
• 
• If I manage to stick to this though

So, THE QUESTION. Am I going on a hiatus?

I had planned from the beginning of October that I WAS doing NaNo and I was determined that I needed AS MUCH time as possible. And I do! That’s where the idea for going on a hiatus came to me. And I was also feeling really demotivated and ugh, so that was another reason.

However, a few days ago, I started feeling REALLY great about blogging and all these ideas were coming to me and these ARC acceptions and?? I was torn.

I am NOT going on a hiatus.

I have thought this through! And I’ve just started out with this blog and I don’t ALREADY want to leave it. I love posting at the moment and I really want to continue with that. I don’t think I WANT to go on hiatus.

That being said, I WILL be only posting once a week.

Mave twice IF I’M FEELING GENEROUS but I DO NOT want to pressurise myself and not win NaNo. Writing is taking priority over reading and blogging this month. And that’s okay. And I’m doing it. This means you will get probably 5 posts from me in the month which will include some of the following;

• A REVIEW/MINI REVIEWS
• How to be a motivated blogger
• On ARC’s/ requesting physical ARC’s
• A LETS WHISPER discussion
• THINGS THAT DISCOMBOBULATE MY SOUL

{goals for last month}

• Reach 1350 followers ❌ (currently 1340, SO CLOSE)
• Order Our Dark Duet and my Bullet Journal✔
• Buddy read ODD with Lu✔
• Post better quality posts✔❌
• Stick to my blogging schedule – no unplanned hiatus, please.❌❌❌
• hopefully, get accepted for at least ONE PHYSICAL ARC✔✔✔
• Read at least 8 books✔✔
• 3 of them should be from Netgalley✔✔
• STICK TO THE NETGALLEY BAN❌❌
• Stop procrastinating and do homework on time and NOT LAST MINUTE!!✔✔
• Prepare for Nano✔❌
• Have some ice cream excuse me✔✔✔✔✔✔

{goals for next month}

• Win NaNo
• Reach 1400 followers (currently @ 1341)
• have ice cream
• Read 6 Books
• 2 of them should be from Netgalley
• Post at least once a week
• STICK TO NETGALLEY BAN
• don’t procrastinate
• be nice
• BUDDY READ VICIOUS WITH JU
• I’m honestly not making too many goals because of NaNo

How was your month? Are you doing NaNo this month? What amazing, exciting things have you been up to? WHAT ARE YOU DRESSING UP AS FOR HALLOWEEN? What were your favourite reads of the month! TELL ME ALL PINEAPPLES.